Mines

by Gail Brown

A wall loomed ahead. The wall led to the mines. Kendra stopped and stared at the gates. It was highly illegal for her to step beyond them. For another fifteen years.

She wouldn't be here another fifteen years. Trista, only twelve, depended on this burst of income, and Kendra's death insurance to support her until adulthood.

Kendra wiped a tear from her cheek. She couldn't go in crying. The cancer would kill her before the mine. Even if the mine wasn't legal for anyone her age. She wouldn't be having more children. She wouldn't be there to raise Trista.

People pushed by her. Mostly older men who would spend the last few years of their lives in the mines, where they would make more money in a month, than in a year at any other job.

A song began behind her. The song of the miners.

Kendra squared her shoulders and marched to the gate.

The man checking identification was familiar.

She had changed her name, and had new identification cards created so she could take this job. He shouldn't recognize her.

He checked her card. "Kendra. Starting today?"

She nodded.

He smiled. "No need to be afraid. Wait over here. After the shift is all in, I'll take you to your station. You'll be outside, sorting."

Kendra nodded and moved to the appointed place. A rocky bench. Sorting. The pay for sorting was one-third the pay for inside work. She needed money. Fast. Her doctor had given her less than six months to live. Her daughter needed money for food and rent until she was old enough to work.

The last miner walked through the gate.

The gatekeeper closed the gate and locked it from the inside. He walked up to her. "We do have office openings."

"What? I'm here to be paid to work and leave support for my daughter."

He smiled. "Sorry. You look young for this work. Most women over forty have a few wrinkles. At least around their eyes. I'm sure the bosses approved your application. I'd rather you didn't run the risks. I'm Travis." He held out his hand.

She touched his fingertips. The risks. Cave-ins, slides, methane, water, oil, fracking fluids, and other forgotten hazards. Most miners only lived a few years, if that. It was a place the dying went to hasten the end. "I know the risks."

Travis tilted his head. "You don't look, or act, like the typical woman who comes here."

"I know. I have my reasons."

"They all do."

"You mind the gate."

Travis laughed. "I have almost no exposure to the dangers. It's one of the safer jobs. Supposed to train a replacement, if I want to go deeper into the mines."

"Do you?"

"Not really. I have too much to live for. Come on. I'll take you to sorting."

"Wait. I want to work deeper in the mine."

He stared at her. "You are an enigma. There is plenty of time. A week in sorting is required." He turned and walked to an entrance to the right of the mine entrance.

She sighed. It probably was. An enigma? Did anyone use words like that anymore? Those were only used in ancient paper copies of books. Barely legal to own.

The door to a brick building leaned on its hinges. A mountain loomed behind it.

"Sorry. Can't go in. This is sorting. Good luck. Should see you tonight."

"You can't go in?"

"Not for another month." He smiled at her and turned back to the locked gate.

Kendra smiled. He must be not quite of age as well. Though, they let him work the gate. He must recognize she was too young to legally be here.

 

A week of sorting. Kendra wiped her sweaty brow. The mines would be cooler. Except when dust storms erupted from falling rock.

"Water?" The woman beside her handed her the bucket. Already brown from dust. She choked some down. Her throat was too dry for words.

The inspector walked through. "Any gems? Any ores?"

Kendra pointed to a few tiny rocks, and one with pretty lines on it. At least, they looked like lines in the semi darkness. Most of the rest had been passed to the next person in line.

"You better be able to recognize them by the first level, if you want to go next week." He dropped them into his collecting tins.

"I do. Will." She croaked.

He walked away.

She turned back to her job of sorting.

The older woman beside her had pointed out half of her finds the last few days.

Pain increased from the cancer. No treatment was known for it, though some doctors said there had been help once. The mines might be the best place for her. Or so they said. At first, she had thought they meant her to go there and die.

Now, she heard of miraculous reduction of some symptoms while working at level 3. That was her goal. To reach level 3, and stay there as long as she could. Deeper levels paid better. Some in the deepest levels never left the mines. Levels 3 to 5 left only on weekends. It was too far down to return every single day.

A sharp gust of air blew through the door from the mines. With the air came grit, dust, dirt, and a few coughing miners from level one.

Everyone hurried out the narrow door to stand outside and wait until the all clear was given.

"Did everyone get out?"

"Line one," the speaker coughed, "Went to level two."

Kendra listened as people greeted each other. These people knew each other well, and the dangers. Often, they were from generations of late life miners. She leaned against the wall as a spasm of pain shot through her body.

"You okay?" Travis stood beside her.

She nodded.

"Are you scared?"

Kendra smiled weakly. They'd expect her to be scared. A good cover up. Not really a lie. Her pain was too strong to speak.

"Come on, they are closing up today. Level two, and three will have to come out the back entrance." Travis led the way back to the gate.

The back entrance. Little more than an air hole. An ancient elevator shaft that had long stopped working. Still used to transport supplies down to the lower levels, and people up to the higher levels in an emergency by rope.

Kendra glanced that way. The rescue team would already be at work. "I should go help."

"No. No first week people may help."

"Are they afraid we will quit?"

He laughed as he opened the guard shack. "Perhaps. Dead bodies are often discolored and disfigured."

"I've seen dead bodies." She sat on the bench he gestured to.

"Really? Bodies broken by tons of rock?"

"Maybe not rock."

"Or discolored and bloated by bad air?" He leaned against the door as miners stepped out of the gate.

"You mean?"

Travis held his finger to his lips.

Of course. They'd have to chat carefully here. Supervisors might be listening. Methane, radon, and mercury all had strange effects on the body. Only, now, they were only called bad air. The names of these, and other gasses, were long forgotten. Except in books. Where they existed.

The noisy miners exited the gate.

Travis stepped outside and closed it. He didn't lock it. "Rescuers will need to be able to get out." He sat beside Kendra.

She nodded. There was something she needed to tell him. Would he understand?

"Can you leave for the day?" That sounded wrong.

"Not if I want to keep my job." He smiled at her.

Her heart fluttered. If only she could live. No. Trista needed someone to support her. "I don't mean like that. The rescuers may be hours."

"Or days. We can sit outside the gate." He shook his keys.

Kendra laughed. She led the way to a bench outside the gate. A place the miner's families could come and bring them meals, or wait for word from rescuers.

Travis sat beside her. "Surprised you didn't go home."

"My daughter isn't there right now." Trista was at boarding school. Learning to live without her mom.

"No other children?"

"No."

Travis moved his mouth closer to her ear. "I'll tell you a secret."

She was startled. Her own secret weighed deeply on her mind.

"I'm not supposed to be here."

Was he trying to draw a confession from her? "Are you sure you should be telling me this?"

He leaned back. "Probably not. You seem nice enough. I want someone to know."

"Why?"

Travis glanced through the slatted fence gate. "I won't be here much longer."

Kendra pulled away. He could be trying to trick her into telling him her secret. "Why?"

"I'm going away. Across the water."

She covered her mouth so no one would see her speak. "Across the water?" The land across the water was forbidden. Illegal. Even to speak of it, would bring serious consequences.

He nodded. "Come with me. Bring your daughter."

She stubbed her toe in the dirt. "I can't. I. Can't."

He took both of her hands in his. "I've seen you walk. I know the symptoms. I can get you help."

"Really?"

He nodded. "They still have books. And more. Everything we lost."

"Hush. If the bosses hear you, they may kill us."

He smiled. "No. Not me. I know you can read. I've been testing you."

She groaned. "You won't let them know, will you?"

He laughed. "They come from across the ocean. They sometimes take people to treat them, and train them to live there."

"Some of the miners who don't return?"

Travis nodded. "I'm going to college."

"College? I didn't think there were any anymore."

"Not here. Come with me? Tonight?"

"My daughter. She's at boarding school."

"I'll send for her to join us."

Kendra looked into Travis's eyes. It could be a trick. His eyes were shiny and bright, with no hint of deception. "I'll go then."

He stood up. "I'll let them know, and we can leave." Travis walked back into the gate.

Kendra's heart fluttered. This went against everything she had ever been taught. It felt right. Safe. Safer than here.

Her daughter would have a future, where reading was legal, even if the doctors couldn't help her. She stood up and hobbled to the gate.

Travis stepped out and took her arm.

They walked down the pathway toward her sleeping place to gather her few belongings.

* * * * *

"Mines" was previously published in Concurrent Earths (2021) and Mirror Worlds (2019 as April D. Brown).

Gail Brown writes paired science fiction internal journey stories and novels full of hopes and dreams. She found science fiction brings hope and light through worlds of colorful dreams. It mirrors daily life as it could be. Perhaps should be, in some ways. Worlds where disability is accepted, and people live their lives without overwork and fear.